LINCOLN  ROOM 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 

the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 
HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


Lincoln 


One  hundred,  twenty-five  copies  printed,  each  numbered  and 
signed. 

Number.. 


gftraijamHtncoln 


A  POETICAL  INTERPRETATION 


nJoaniJI 


smulov  airi)  id!  ^Ilsbaqsa  Lsmnqesw  rfqingoJorfq  airfT 


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. 

gionilll  ,Dl9ngnnq3  ni  .aomisO  .2  .C7  <(a  ,  1  58  i 

lo  noifialloo  sri)  ni  bsvisasiq  si  svilsgsn  [snigno  sriT 
}lioY  wsM  ..peS  .avisasM  ItiH 


PRIVATELY  PRINTED  FOR  THE  AUTHOR  BY 
THE  ARTHUR  H.CLARK  COMPANY 

CLEVELAND,  1913 


gbraftam  Lincoln 

This  photograph  was  printed  especially  for  this  volume 

direft  from  the  original  negative,  made  from  life  early  in 

1 86 1 ,  by  C.  S.  Germon,  in  Springfield,  Illinois 

The  original  negative  is  preserved  in  the  collection  of 
Frederick  Hill  Meserve,  Esq.,  New  York  City 


A  POETICAL  INTERPRETATION 


BY 


George  William  3Bell,$3f).2X 


PRIVATELY  PRINTED  FOR  THE  AUTHOR  BY 

THE  ARTHUR  H.CLARK  COMPANY 

CLEVELAND,  1913 


COPYRIGHT,    1913,   BY 

GEORGE  WILLIAM  BELL 


To  my  parents 

James  &.  anb  ;f«arp  C.  JSett 

highest  exemplars  of 
true  fatherhood  and  motherhood 


Content* 

FOREWORD      .  .  .  .  .  .  n 

PART  ONE -THE  SHAPING  CURRENT          .  .  19 

The  Lifting  of  the  Veil 

The  Freeing  of  the  Spirit 

The  Coming  of  the  Races 

The  Welding  of  the  Parts 
PART  Two  -  THE  UNENDING  TOIL  ...  37 

Lincoln's  first  official  Utterance 

Lincoln's  last  public  Expression 

Ancestral  Tracings 

Personal  Inheritances 

Home  Influences 

The  Call  and  the  Vision 

The  Law  and  its  Voice 

The  Voice  becomes  National 

Weakness  and  Strength 

National  Ills 

The  Major  and  the  Minor 

The  vicarious  Sacrifice 

The  Burden  and  the  Faith       ' 

The  higher  Humanity 

The  higher  Leadership 

Gettysburg 

Death  of  Lincoln 

The  Waste  of  Passion 

Our  human  Loss 
PART  THREE -THE  ACHIEVING  SPIRIT        .  .  75 

Personal  Significance 

The  Torch  of  Permanence 


Tie  7 


prr 


Jforetoorb 

The  truth  of  life  with  its  reaches  of  sentiment 
and  romance  presents  to  man  his  most  fascinating 
and  eternal  problem.  To  reconcile  this  pervasive 
romance  in  a  nation's  history  with  the  demands  of 
modern  scholarship  is  neither  an  easy  nor  always 
a  desirable  undertaking;  and  the  attempted  recon- 
ciliation too  often  discloses  the  scholar  without 
imagination.  Still  we  are  passing  along  a  way, 
wherein  the  sensitive  imagination  is  being  intelli- 
gently informed.  Facts  have  their  romance  as  well 
as  hearsay  and  tradition.  One  need  not  move  out- 
side the  material  and  spiritual  circle  of  any  simple 
and  sincere  life  to  meet  with  the  most  sublime 
thoughts  and  highest  ideals  of  the  thinker  and  poet. 

Remarkable  have  been  the  achievements  of  his- 
torical and  scientific  scholarship  in  the  last  few 
decades,  suggesting  a  field  of  vision  to  the  poet- 
prophet  or  affording  an  opportunity  to  the  poet- 
interpreter;  and  as  he  draws  nigh  unto  his  facts,  his 
vision  strengthens  and  he  reads  the  human  heart  as 
one  inspired.  There  is  ethical  significance  here  for 
both  the  poet  and  the  race.  There  is  an  immediacy 
of  environment  playing  upon  every  life  inhering  in 
the  very  truth  of  that  life.  Here  lies  the  common 

11 


jforetoorfc 


meeting-ground  for  poet  and  scholar,  giving  us  the 
judgment  of  truth  touched  in  colors  of  flesh  and 
blood. 

The  recent  researches  of  Mrs.  Caroline  Hanks 
Hitchcock,  and  Messrs.  Howard,  Learned,  Lea, 
and  Hutchinson  have  been  of  inestimable  value  in 
providing  the  way  for  silencing  those  who  would 
throw  a  cloud  over  the  reputation  of  Nancy  Hanks, 
beloved  mother  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  To  Lea  and 
Hutchinson,  especially,  are  we  indebted  for  estab-. 
lishing  the  chain  of  Lincoln  descent  back  into  the 
sixteenth  century,  and  proving  to  a  reasonable  de- 
gree of  certainty  that  the  Lincolns,  even  the  much 
scorned  father  of  the  president,  have  always  been 
among  the  first  of  their  equals. 

Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln,  the  mother  of  the  presi- 
dent, was  born  February  5,  1784,  and  died  October 
15,  1818,  at  the  age  of  thirty-four.  Within  those 
few  years  were  compressed  much  of  early  happi- 
ness and  some  sorrow -for  Nancy  was  orphaned 
at  nine  years  of  age ;  something  in  the  home  of  her 
guardian,  Aunt  Lucy  Shipley  Berry,  of  a  joyous  and 
intelligent  leadership  among  her  young  compan- 
ions, until  she  was  fairly  wooed  and  won  by  the  in- 
dustrious young  carpenter,  Thomas  Lincoln ;  some- 
thing of  the  experiences  of  a  married  life  of  simple 
joy,  for  she  loved  her  husband  and  their  three  chil- 
dren, of  whom  two  lived  to  be  trained  and  instruct- 
ed by  her  in  the  great  and  good  things  of  life;  and 
finally,  something  of  the  common  trials  and  suffer- 

13 


jforetoorfc 


ings  of  the  wife  on  the  frontier  of  civilization,  pass- 
ing to  an  early  death. 

The  mystery  of  life  is  the  law  of  its  continuance  - 
the  forgetting  and  the  remembering,  the  sinking 
down  and  the  rising  up,  the  shaping  of  life  upon 
life.  We  cannot  account  for  the  meanest  specimen 
of  mankind  without  entering  the  laboratory  of  the 
mystic,  and  we  shall  never  explain  this  Abraham 
Lincoln  by  the  historic  method  alone.  The  influ- 
ences that  moulded  the  future  leader  of  his  race 
were  subtle  and  varied ;  but  we  may  be  certain  that 
the  influence  of  his  mother  transcended  any  other. 
He  himself  has  said,  "All  that  I  am  or  hope  to  be, 
I  owe  to  my  angel  mother;"  and  we  are  slowly  real- 
izing that  our  president  was  even  more  of  a  Hanks, 
than  a  Lincoln,  as  his  features  and  mental  charac- 
teristics reveal.  His  wonderful  tenderness  and 
humanity  and  his  humor  are  the  pervading  char- 
acteristics that  came  to  him  from  his  mother's  line. 
His  sturdy  honesty,  his  high  sense  of  duty  and  his 
capacity  for  suffering  seem  to  be  the  elements,  pe- 
culiarly Lincoln,  in  his  personality. 

The  union  of  the  Lincoln  and  Hanks  families 
brought  together  two  forces  of  eminent  respectabil- 
ity in  their  ranges  of  living.  In  the  persons  of 
Thomas  Lincoln  and  Nancy  Hanks,  we  have -a 
man,  who  amidst  a  series  of  the  most  tragic  hap- 
penings of  a  frontier  life,  proves  himself  capable  of 
sustaining  an  unwearying  contest- a  woman  who 
is  above  the  average  of  her  class  in  every  way,  yet 

15 


jforetoorb 


so  gentle  and  intelligent  as  to  win  all  as  friends,  one 
capable  of  sacrificing  for  the  good  of  her  family 
whatever  was  necessary  of  her  own  life.  There 
can  be  no  rhetorical  exaggeration  in  placing  the 
name  of  Nancy  Hanks  beside  that  of  her  martyred 
son.  The  early  death  of  this  estimable  woman  gave 
to  Lincoln  an  ever  ennobling  memory  but  removed 
from  his  daily  presence  a  practical  influence  that 
would  have  meant  much  to  the  unconscious  refine- 
ment of  a  noble  human  soul.  As  we  link  together 
the  names  of  Washington  and  Lincoln,  let  us  also 
place  beside  them  the  names  of  the  two  women  who 
were  so  much  to  them -Martha  Washington  and 
Nancy  Hanks -the  wife  and  the  mother. 

GEORGE  WILLIAM  BELL. 
Stoneham,  Mass.,  February,  1913. 


17 


one 
Raping  Current 


Htfttng  of  tfje\Teil-l 

Hail,  mind  of  to-day,  that  with  its  spirit 

Relights  the  dimming  glow  of  cycles  past 
And  fans  to  radiant  brightness,  darkest  pit 

That  through  long  ages  was  not -an  outcast! 
That  gropes  with  monumental  patience,  lest 

Some  valued  and  unsung  memorial 
Of  ancient  greatness  keep  its  unknown  rest, 

And  bear  its  part  in  silence -mystical! 
To  find,  and  to  creatively  affirm 

The  human  stepping  of  the  sons  of  God 
Towards  that  inevitable,  final  term, 

Where  man  no  more  sees  service  'neath  the  rod. 
The  physical  endurance  of  a  noble  past 

Unveils  but  slowly  its  heroic  might, 
Yet  lights  up  in  the  glowing  mind,  at  last 

A  wondering  tenderness  for  sorrow's  night. 

The  pre-historic  days,  the  ancient  world, 
The  ferment  born  of  time  long  since  unfurled; 
Have  passed  in  some  degree,  will  pass  far  more 
Into  the  life  that  ventures  to  restore. 


21 


lifting  of  tfje 

And  restoration  is  the  art  of  arts- 

To  build  again  the  thought  and  deed  of  those 
Who  in  creation's  early  days  made  charts 

And  evolved  principles  that  slowly  rose 
In  elemental  greatness  -  this  the  task- 

To  reconstruct  a  life  and  time  that  bore 
Eternal  freshness  and  a  will  to  ask 

Its  God  for  signs  and  symbols  to  explore. 
Life  is  a  whole,  time  but  the  agent  strong, 

Stripping  the  fetters  binding  to  the  earth; 
There  is  no  first,  no  last,  nor  right  nor  wrong 

That  in  itself  is  absolute,  has  worth ; 
To-day  is  just  as  great  as  yesterday, 

The  victory  and  truth  still  unrevealed, 
'Twill  be  the  greater  when  the  ancient  way, 

In  re-creations,  bears  its  will  unsealed. 

The  reason's  process  through  the  straining  years 
Evokes  the  heart's  great  tumult  and  its  tears ; 
And  guides  the  master  passion,  through  its  light, 
To  dissipate  the  darkness  of  the  night. 


23 


freeing  of  ttje 

To  send  anew  the  Word,  heard,  but  unknown, 

To  ever  glow  with  brilliance,  pure,  serene, 
To  light  the  beacons  o'er  the  tombs,  moss-grown, 

Doth  verify  a  purpose,  felt,  not  seen; 
Significance  of  soul  present  in  One 

Doth  glorify  unto  an  age  its  fruit, 
And  in  the  heart  of  man  there  has  begun 

Acknowledgment  of  Law -as  absolute: 
The  law  that  finds  its  voice  in  one,  then  all, 

In  leader,  then  in  people  to  be  led, 
Seeks  of  the  loyal  individual 

Some  service  to  all  living -from  all  dead. 
A  Moses,  Socrates,  world-spirits  these, 

A  Charlemagne,  a  Luther,  and  Cromwell, 
Lean  towards  the  higher  law,  and  raise  o'er  seas 

And  lands,  the  emblems  of  truth's  citadel. 

Life's  unit  is  the  individual  soul, 
Encased  or  free,  on  voyage  to  some  goal; 
The  world  glows  not  but  as  the  unit  glows, 
Each  trail  of  glory,  glory  fresh  bestows. 


25 


Jf reemg  ot  tfa  Spirit  2 

The  sunlight  of  intelligence  darts  back 

Afar,  whose  rays  destroy  the  atmosphere 
Of  superstition,  nightmares  that  do  wrack 

Man's  peace  to  terrorize  his  life  with  fear; 
And  a  Columbus  steers  his  course  due  West 

To  find  a  land  whose  bosom  yields  the  hope 
To  millions  toiling  in  their  homes,  unblessed, 

Of  freedom,  and  the  right  to  live,  not  grope. 
Courageous  voyager,  sailing  the  main 

Of  an  uncharted  sea,  seeking  to  spell 
In  letters  bold,  the  mystic  path,  to  gain 

Anew,  man's  right  as  ocean's  sentinel : 
Thy  followers,  Vespuccius,  Cabot,  Drake, 

Champlain,  La  Salle,  Balboa,  and  Marquette, 
Remade  thy  glory  and  served  to  awake 

The  sleeping  earth  that  would  thy  names  forget. 

The  world  looks  for  a  sign  but  sees  it  when  - 
The  years  have  raised  it  with  the  blood  of  men, 
Those  fearless  wanderers  who've  found  new  lands 
Died  for  a  future  that  with  praise  expands. 


27 


Coming  of  tfje 

America -thy  eastern  shores  received 

The  human  floods  that  swept  their  lines  afar, 
And  gave  thy  rolling  acres -well  achieved  - 

Unto  a  world-task  pointed  by  God's  star. 
O'er  hill  and  plain  and  mountain  spread  the  host, 

Breaking  the  chains  of  empire  and  anew 
As  a  Republic,  stretched  from  coast  to  coast, 

Sped  liberty  and  freedom  as  man's  due. 
The  conquering  of  a  continent- for  use- 

Its  untrod  labyrinths  op'ed  and  explored, 
Its  timber  felled,  its  surface  tilled,  excuse 

Enough  for  taking  from  a  race  abhorred 
Through  dark  and  bloody  cruelties  unmatched, 

That  land,  a  hunting  ground,  a  haunt  of  beasts - 
Some  day  the  home  of  millions  unattached 

To  old  world  privileges,  to  lords  and  priests. 

All  Europe  feels  her  title  in  this  land 

Whose  children  found  these  shores,  met  first  demand 

Imperative  for  blood,  and  later  spread 

Her  life,  her  thoughts,  wherever  pathways  led. 


29 


Efje  Coming  of  the  &aces  2 

As  in  each  life,  life's  discipline  flows  from 

Repeated  tasks,  so  conquest  marks  its  pace 
From  east  to  west,  to  constantly  o'ercome 

Tide-water  east,  which  fights  the  march  of  race. 
Each  step  seems  by  the  older  most  opposed, 

And  national  vision  comes  first  to  the  west; 
Yet  rests  that  vision  with  its  truth  disclosed, 

Upon  a  government  stable,  the  best: 
And  oft  as  the  expanding  forces  move 

Across  the  mountains,  down  the  rivers'  flight, 
They  pause  to  settle  and  their  rights  to  prove 

Against  a  nation's  whettening  appetite; 
Till  in  the  passing  years,  'mid  struggles  grim, 

A  whole  land  sees  with  kindlier  eyes,  the  soil 
As  home  of  man,  productive  synonym 

For  happiness,  the  right  to  live  and  toil. 

The  Revolution  was  the  first  advance, 
The  goal  is  reached  but  when  the  wide  expanse 
From  shore  to  shore  a  common  purpose  sings, 
Of  people's  rights,  not  selfish  rule  of  kings. 


31 


ng  of  tljr  fJarts  I 

The  nation's  pathway  to  its  time  of  peace 

Lies  over  seas  of  blood,  through  years  of  storm; 
Its  course  uncertain,  bending  at  caprice 

Of  party,  section,  to  its  dream  perform. 
The  right  to  occupy,  to  cultivate 

The  land  once  taken  from  the  Indian  brave, 
Gave  us  our  homes,  yet  fostered  bitterest  hate 

In  that  proud  race,  acts  that  it  ne'er  forgave. 
The  right  to  independence,  in  our  rule 

Of  home  affairs,  in  customs  and  in  law, 
Brought  on  a  strife,  worthy  of  ridicule 

In  part,  in  vaster  part  inspiring  all. 
The  right  to  freedom  and  to  liberty, 

To  strive  and  meet  the  urge  of  every  soul ; 
The  right  of  nation  to  its  destiny, 

Found  answer  in  the  battle's  grim  control. 

These  are  the  acts  of  an  ambitious  race 
Seeking  its  way,  yet  careless  of  its  pace ; 
Brave  and  in  purpose  righteous  but  aware 
Too  seldom,  of  the  dangers  that  ensnare. 


Mlf  Itung  of  tije  $arts  2 

And  in  the  wake  of  conquest  came  that  scheme, 

Our  government,  that  man,  our  Washington. 
A  nation,  raised  to  greatness,  saw  its  dream 

Unfolding  mightily,  the  battle  won. 
In  Washington,  there  was  the  harmony 

Of  spirit,  product  of  no  single  age 
Yet  seeming  like  some  vast  reality 

Uplifting  all  the  land,  at  every  stage: 
In  Hamilton,  the  genius  of  the  mind 

Sought  to  preserve  the  fabric  of  our  plan, 
Whose  services  and  brilliance  could  not  blind 

The  nation  to  his  hostile  views  of  man. 
In  Jefferson  the  people  felt  their  own 

Will  rising  to  the  forefront  in  the  fight, 
While  upland  Jackson  made  that  will  full  grown, 

Yet  needing  Lincoln  to  our  land  unite. 

This  country  leans  to  leadership  in  part, 
A  leadership  that  teaches  of  the  heart; 
It  needs  its  men  of  genius,  thinkers  bold, 
To  raise  its  future  earthworks,  and  to  hold. 


35 


Unenbing  QTotl 


LINCOLN'S  FIRST  OFFICIAL  UTTERANCE 

We  are  not  enemies,  but  friends.  We  must  not  be  enemies. 
Though  passion  may  have  strained,  it  must  not  break  our  bonds 
of  affection.  The  mystic  chords  of  memory,  stretching  from 
every  battlefield  and  patriot  grave  to  every  living  heart  and 
hearthstone  all  over  this  broad  land,  will  yet  swell  the  chorus 
of  the  Union,  when  again  touched,  as  surely  they  will  be,  by  the 
better  angels  of  our  nature. 

LINCOLN'S  LAST  PUBLIC  EXPRESSION 

With  malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for  all,  with  firmness 
in  the  right  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to 
finish  the  work  we  are  in,  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds,  to 
care  for  him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle  and  for  his  widow 
and  his  orphan,  to  do  all  which  may  achieve  and  cherish  a  just 
and  lasting  peace  among  ourselves  and  with  all  nations. 


•ancestral  tracing* 

Ancestral  blendings  of  our  Lincoln  raised 

That  giant  mould  of  form  and  brain,  the  quest 
With  ever  wearying  stress  of  times  that  crazed, 

To  keep,  and  bring  to  fainting  nation,  rest. 
From  out  the  life  of  England's  wealth,  there  passed 

A  glory  to  New  England's  rocky  coast 
That  in  new  forms  and  freer,  did  at  last 

Trek  to  the  South  and  West- a  fertile  host. 
The  Anglo-Saxon  Lincoln  blood  runs  pure 

Throughout  its  English,  Northern,  Southern  course, 
Harking  to-day  of  Shakespere's  mighty  lure 

Of  fame  immortal,  did  it  wield  its  force. 
The  first  among  their  equals,  Lincolns  moved 

From  times  long  gone  to  fateful  end  of  care ; 
His  race  and  Nancy's  own  have  ever  proved 

The  value  of  the  virtues  born  to  dare. 

Our  nation  strikes  its  roots  in  other  lands, 
Forming  a  tie  that  sympathy  commands: 
To  rear  aloft  a  new  race,  a  new  man, 
Fairer  in  promise,  nobler  in  his  plan. 


41 


$)f  rsonal  3nf)r  ntanres 

True  Puritan,  thy  soul  in  moral  zeal, 

True  Southern  in  its  warmth  and  sympathy, 
True  Western  most  in  vision,  makes  men  feel 

The  ties  of  daily  human  chivalry. 
Thy  mother's  sway  artistic,  in  thy  blood, 

Lifted  thy  moral  nature  far  beyond 
The  sphere  of  narrow  practice,  and  its  flood 

Of  dogma  that  does  break,  makes  men  despond, 
To  regions  where  the  mind  and  heart  do  leap 

Together  in  the  framing  of  an  act; 
To  heights  where  vision  falters  not  to  keep 

The  way  of  truth,  with  wisdom  to  attract. 
Thy  father's  worth  to  thee  was  honesty 

His  tragic  life  failed  utterly  to  kill; 
Those  hardships  borne  with  courage  fashioned  thee 

To  know  the  test,  and  breast  it  with  firm  will. 

The  blending  family  stocks  richly  prevail 
In  weaving  wondrous  human  fabrics,  frail, 
And  shimmering  with  the  life  pulse  all  aflame, 
Creation's  document  for  time  to  claim. 


43 


Influences 

How  deeply  has  the  heart  of  womankind 

Enveloped  earth  with  love's  sweet  mystery! 
How  marvelously  its  purer  soul,  entwined 

With  baser  things,  thrilled  life's  humanity! 
How  brightly  has  the  lowly  cottage  shone 

With  all  the  treasures  of  a  fruitful  love, 
E'en  when  the  cottage  boasts  of  love  alone 

A  holy  incense  radiates  above! 
This  lowly  cottage  in  the  fair  South-land 

Was  nurturing  soil  at  birth,  and  in  his  youth, 
Storing  a  soul,  impelled  by  high  command, 

With  common  wisdom  leading  unto  truth. 
The  home,  the  forest,  solitude  of  woods, 

Raised  deep  within  his  nature -sympathies; 
The  books  with  thoughts  and  deeds,  seemed  brotherhoods, 

Framing  their  themes  for  future  melodies. 

The  sainted  memories  of  childhood  days 
Plead  sympathetically  for  better  ways; 
Spin  daily  texts  in  weaving  of  life-plans, 
Rounding  life's  arch,  all  beauteous  in  its  spans. 


45 


Call  anb  tfje 

The  simple  round  of  tasks  filling  the  hours 

Of  those  who  swiftly  follow  in  the  wake 
Of  pioneers,  may  lend  undreamed  of  powers 

For  making  real,  great  visions  as  they  break. 
The  merging  of  his  youth  in  manhood's  task, 

As  Lincoln  passed  to  forum  of  debate, 
Marked  well  the  dawning  insight,  that  the  mask 

Of  folly  on  the  face  of  truth,  bred  hate. 
His  call  was  of  the  deep  unto  the  deep, 

With  vision  flashing  out  as  nature's  torch, 
Saw  prejudice,  the  spectre,  then  o'erleap 

Man's  reason  and  o'erthrow  the  national  arch. 
He  mastered  principles  that  gripped  the  age. 

He  saw  beneath  the  coating  of  all  form 
The  monster  slavery,  our  heritage 

From  out  the  past,  a  curse  presaging  storm. 

The  guilt  of  slavery  first  was  borne  by  all, 
Though  later  woe  on  South  did  heaviest  fall ; 
The  economic  law  first  mastered  right, 
And  then  by  right  was  conquered  in  grim  fight. 


47 


Hato  anb  tte 

We  never  know  the  hour,  the  day,  the  year, 

When  God  sees  fit  to  place  his  rarest  seal 
Of  prescient  truth,  upon  a  life  career, 

To  evermore  His  purposes  reveal. 
A  backwoodsman  uncouth,  untrained,  unknown, 

A  fact  athwart  the  theories  of  time, 
Stands  forth  in  homely  garb,  his  challenge  thrown, 

Speaking  the  law  that  knows  no  race  nor  clime. 
A  law  that  is  eternal  in  its  will, 

Biding  no  weakly  turning  from  its  sway, 
That  calls  upon  mankind  to  heed,  fulfil, 

Lest  human  bondage  bring  some  vast  decay. 
Enkindling  law  that  stirs  the  common  heart 

And  mind  to  practise  larger,  nobler  ends, 
Yet  uttered  by  this  man  with  simple  art, 

Pleads  for  a  practise  that  with  mercy  blends. 

The  ripening  wisdom  of  a  mind  unslaved 
By  temper's  prejudice,  heart  undepraved, 
Marshals  an  eloquence,  recruiting  trust, 
Prophetic  of  a  day  more  fair,  more  just. 


49 


^Jotce  becomes!  Rational 

The  heavy  hanging  of  storm-laden  clouds, 

Wrapping  the  earth  in  gloom  of  sternest  doubt, 
The  signs  and  wonders  playing  'midst  the  crowds, 

Helped  sentiment,  staid  reason's  choice  to  rout. 
The  voice  of  reason  and  the  scholar's  hope 

United  in  the  leader  of  the  cause 
Of  human  rights,  whose  wisdom  would  not  grope 

In  darkness,  at  the  breaking  of  the  laws; 
But  sentiment  chose  Lincoln  as  its  voice, 

And  sternly  negatived  the  pride  of  place, 
With  its  ambitions  and  its  selfish  choice 

Of  hard  inhuman  methods  that  debase. 
A  nation  brave  in  heart,  yet  bound  in  fear, 

Dreads  issue  pressing  madly  to  the  fore; 
It  weeps  and  shudders,  halts,  while  falling  tear 

Of  shame  reveals  the  heart  protesting  sore. 

The  ways  of  Seward  had  been  tried -had  failed 
But  to  arouse  the  passions,  time  bewailed: 
The  ways  of  Douglas  could  no  longer  guide 
The  moral-swinging  nation  o'er  the  tide. 


51 


OTeafenesa  au& 

The  nation's  chief  felt  first  the  strain  of  grief 

That  lay  behind  the  gleam-war's  panoply- 
Ah,  could  the  land  have  known  its  mighty  chief, 

Its  trust  must  soon  have  lessened  enmity. 
The  rendering  of  the  ballot  cleared  the  mist 

And  bared  the  crevisse  'neath  the  foot  of  man; 
No  longer  lashing  tongue,  but  mailed  fist 

Seemed  to  the  Southern  section,  Lincoln's  plan. 
The  radicals  at  last  had  reached  their  own; 

But  all  unknowingly  a  king  chose  they 
Of  men,  whose  power  might  then  have  strewn 

Good-will  upon  this  earth,  and  brought  delay, 
Had  not  obsession  seized  the  nation's  mind, 

Both  North  and  South,  and  blood  of  tumult  beat 
Victorious  o'er  a  pathway  peace-designed: 

And  Lincoln  knew  the  sorrow  of  defeat. 

O  mighty  nation,  bred  to  great  ideas, 

To  freedom's  way  and  not  to  old  world  fears; 

Yet  once  again  needing  the  patriot's  deeds 

To  save  the  land  when  statemanship  stampedes. 


S3 


Rational  3lte 

The  nation's  blood  tumultuous,  now  must  dye 

The  fruitful  earth  with  mark  of  crimson  stain, 
And  strew  its  fields  with  dead,  to  pacify 

An  age  of  conscience,  stumbling  to  explain. 
Alas  that  carnage  should  prove  arbiter 

For  issues  that  our  minds  failed  to  control! 
Alas  that  war  should  prove  artificer 

Of  national  edifice,  and  crimes  condole! 
The  mounting  hopes  of  man  in  government 

Becloud  themselves  with  theories  unreal, 
And  seek,  sometimes,  to  thwart  a  nation's  bent 

By  rashly  overlooking  time's  stern  deal : 
As  oft  and  even  more  a  part  withdraws 

In  selfish  eagerness  to  press  its  own 
Advantage,  'gainst  the  wisdom  of  the  laws 

That  guide  the  whole,  through  binding  national  tone. 

Man's  savagery  creeps  forth  at  times  to  show 
How  much  we  lean  for  aid  on  things  below, 
Yet  joyful  comedy  gives  man's  estate, 
Dark  tragedies  reveal  what  comes  too  late. 


55 


anb  tfje  ifltnor 

Fallen  the  rights  of  man  with  nation's  fall, 

Crushing  the  age-long  hopes  beneath  despair, 
Had  he,  we  trusted,  failed  to  lift  his  call 

To  task  of  Union-saving  as  his  share. 
The  Federal  power  supreme,  our  liberty, 

Lay  trembling  at  the  edge  of  frenzied  might; 
Not  first  was  smiting  down  of  slavery, 

Though  primal  cause  of  nation's  darkening  night. 
The  Federal  power  supreme- that  shaping  cone 

Of  just  efficiency  in  government 
That  more  and  more  must  be,  its  base,  its  throne, 

Converging  to  its  crown  magnificent- 
With  peak  alone  must  tower  to  the  sky 

Inviting  to  an  outlook,  single,  true; 
While  all  the  framing  elements  may  try 

To  add  a  varied  glory  to  the  view. 

In  passion's  time  a  lowly  wisdom  fights 
But  haltingly  against  life  wasting  spites; 
Yet,  in  its  steady  flame  hope  lingers  still, 
Till  fury,  sated,  yields  its  outworn  will. 


57 


bit  arms  Sacrifice 

The  fast  approaching  Juggernaut  of  War 

Seemed  destined  to  ride  ruthless  o'er  the  land, 
Crushing  the  hearts  and  deafening  with  its  roar, 

Till  dead  and  dying  equalled  fell  demand. 
There  fire  and  battle's  smoke  from  woods  to  shore, 

There  curse  of  men  charging  to  life's  last  stand, 
Then  groans  and  shrieks  of  dying,  corps  on  corps, 

Then  marching  armies  hurling  torch  and  brand. 
Brave  brother  with  brave  brother  madly  fought, 

While  mountains  smoked  and  rivers  changed  their  hue, 
And  deeds  of  valor  have  forever  wrought 

Courageous  purpose  to  one  national  view. 
The  world  seems  oft  to  pass  beneath  the  cross 

And  offer  up  its  best  to  venture  on ; 
'Tis  certain  that  the  world  knows  not  its  loss, 

Else  grimmest  vestments  of  its  grief  would  don. 

War  is  the  cure  of  kings,  of  potentates, 
The  lust  of  power,  its  note  reverberates ; 
Sometimes  a  nation,  reason  ruled,  resigns 
Its  master,  and  to  maddening  war  inclines. 


59 


itorfcen  anb  tfje  Jf attf) 

When  in  those  days  lives  spent  themselves  as  dust, 

And  God  of  shelter  seemed  no  longer  aid ; 
A  murmuring  nation  rose  then  to  distrust 

Its  Lincoln,  poured  forth  bitter,  cruel  tirade. 
To  read  into  those  hardening  facts  of  war, 

To  see  through  all  the  killing  of  that  time, 
The  overflowing  mercy,  so  much  more, 

The  culminating  purpose,  all  sublime. 
These  burdens  etched  the  furrows  on  his  face, 

And  stooped  his  form  beneath  stern  duty's  drill ; 
These  gave  unto  his  look  its  noble  grace, 

Voicing  e'en  then  and  evermore  God's  will. 
But  Lincoln  held  the  faith  a  nation  lacked 

And  suffered  not  the  vision  to  depart, 
However  grievously  the  burden  racked 

Or  clamorously  assailed  each  murmuring  dart. 

The  elemental  strength  of  Lincoln  lay 

In  merging  joy  with  sorrow  through  his  day; 

In  those  excursions  of  the  soul,  that  sift 

Life's  nearness,  making  room  for  thoughts  that  lift. 


61 


fustier 

In  nobleness  of  heart  thou  had'st  few  peers 

Among  the  great  of  earth,  whose  names  we  praise; 
Thy  mighty  daily  tasks  stayed  not  the  tears 

Falling  for  aching  hearts,  through  time's  delays. 
Thy  listening  ear  God's  gracious  message  heard, 

Seeking  to  voice  its  accents  wave  on  wave ; 
The  wisdom  of  thy  heart  there  ministered 

Till  thy  humanity  reached  to  the  slave. 
O'ermastering  sense  of  fellowship  with  those 

Chained  by  the  bonds  men  thought  legitimate; 
Thou  wept  at  slavery,  sought  to  disclose 

Its  inhumanity,  so  desolate. 
The  lifting  of  the  seal  of  servitude 

Was  fair  releasement  for  the  sons  of  toil 
Too  slowly  nurtured  by  the  customs  crude 

To  rise  to  greatness,  bound  unto  the  soil. 

The  sacred  rights  of  personality 
Throw  out  the  challenge  for  true  liberty. 
Raised  from  his  bed  of  helplessness -captive 
Of  all  the  ages -there  to  walk  and  live. 


63 


There  is  a  leadership,  creative,  rare, 

That  moves  the  slumbering  nature  to  retrieve 
Its  hours  of  idleness,  and  to  prepare 

A  fitting  temple  'gainst  the  twilight's  eve. 
It  calls  forth  to  achievement,  throws  aside 

The  guilty  creepings  of  ambition's  trail, 
And  veers  the  compass,  pointed  by  our  pride, 

To  guide  unerringly,  though  darts  assail. 
It  bars  the  door  'gainst  memory's  selfish  wiles, 

And  more  and  more  fights  silent  and  alone; 
Unmoved  at  last  by  flattery  that  beguiles 

The  weakling,  hearing  not  the  deeper  tone. 
This  leadership  was  Lincoln's  and  its  vein 

Lent  strength  to  every  talent  of  his  aids; 
Grant,  Seward,  Stanton,  Chase,  and  Welles  attained 

Historic  greatness,  fearing  not  time's  shades. 

The  leadership  of  old  drove  to  its  end 
Bearing  its  virtues  in  its  power  to  rend ; 
No  people's  voice  thundered  its  sacred  cause 
Until  democracy,  wrought  out  its  laws. 


65 


The  field  of  Gettysburg -ground  consecrate 

To  efforts  superhuman  and  unmatched, 
To  deeds  of  loyal  valor  born  of  great 

Resolvements  and  to  unborn  loves  attached - 
Held  mighty  host  as  Lincoln  rose  to  view, 

A  President,  a  nation's  father  now, 
Whose  heart  in  silence  measured  grief  it  knew, 

A  grief  fine  words  seemed  illy  to  avow. 
The  memories  of  that  battle  surged  his  brain 

And  forced  the  breaking  of  a  deep  drawn  sigh 
More  eloquent  than  language  to  explain 

Those  deeds  that  time  will  ever  glorify. 
His  words  so  brief,  yet  placed  immortal  wreath 

Upon  the  sufferers  'neath  that  scorching  fire, 
The  heirs  of  whom  must  always  walk  beneath 

The  guidance  of  the  truth -such  deeds  inspire. 

The  battle's  menace  darked  the  universe, 
But  sanguine  victory  shattered  slavery's  curse : 
The  sacrifice  appalled  a  blood-bought  world, 
Hastening  the  day  all  battle  flags  are  furled. 


67 


IDcatij  of  Htncoln 

Fourth  anniversary  of  Sumter's  fall, 

The  brightest  day  when  hopes  of  peace  revived : 
The  saddest  night  a  nation  could  recall, 

Its  Lincoln  dead,  its  heaven  of  light  deprived! 
Swift  settled  o'er  this  land  a  heavy  pall, 

While  grim  and  tear  stained  faces  groped  for  naught 
That  lay  within  man's  power,  now  trivial, 

To  give,  when  fell  the  best  he  ever  wrought. 
Palsied  with  grief  and  awed  with  fear  men  sank, 

Not  otherwise  than  victims  in  a  flood, 
That  bursting  o'er  the  ill-restraining  bank 

Strewed  earth's  fair  green  with  wreckage  and  with  blood. 
In  every  household  where  loved  Lincoln  reigned, 

There  was  the  bitter  funereal  grief; 
Subdued  was  every  tone,  all  joy  enchained, 

While  misery  cleft  deep  in  man's  belief. 

'Twas  in  his  years  of  service,  through  his  deeds, 
That  we  knew  Lincoln,  loved  his  simple  creeds ; 
Drank  from  his  soul  of  richness,  national  power 
Sufficient  unto  rising  'bove  death's  awful  hour. 


69 


l&laste  of 

Assassination  marked  the  climax  grim 

Of  evils  crusting  o'er  the  nation's  form, 
And  smote  the  heart  of  mercy -tore  from  him 

The  right  to  edge  with  silver -clouds  of  storm. 
Doubt  not  the  leaden  messenger  of  death 

Eclipsed  a  beacon  of  new  dawning  peace; 
Blurred  deep  the  people's  vision,  and  their  faith, 

With  passion  urging  passion  to  increase. 
What  meaning  to  life's  span  of  consciousness, 

If  at  its  strongest  hour  its  doom  is  marked! 
What  purpose,  that  a  nation  choose,  possess 

Great  leaders  when  on  fearful  war  embarked! 
Where  lies  the  logic  of  a  man's  stern  fight 

If  hopes  and  visions  lead  but  to  the  cross! 
Why  strives  a  nation  mightily  for  right, 

If  final  contest  brings  but  dire  pathos! 

All  killing  is  confession  that  we  learn 
Impatiently- nor  higher  things  discern: 
All  meanings  that  we  search  for  fail  us  when 
Our  passions  rise  as  cloud-banks  round  our  ken. 


71 


<£>ur  ijtiman  "loss 

Could  his  redeeming  presence  still  have  fed 

His  day,  hushing  opinion's  direful  waste, 
Shaping  war's  sharp  reactions,  that  o'erspread 

The  nation's  temper  through  its  fretful  haste; 
His  human  thinking,  so  uncritical, 

Yet  seeing  deep  our  needs  and  weaknesses, 
Would  surely  have  swept  chords,  innumerable, 

And  made  of  wounds  new  budding  victories. 
A  Lincoln  dead,  no  other  fills  his  place 

Or  adequately  soothes  the  frenzied  mind, 
That  does  anew  seek  rudely  to  efface 

Those  master  lines  of  statecraft,  wisdom  twined. 
Love's  fond  immediacy  resents  a  change 

Of  object,  and  its  virtues  positive 
Slip  quickly  to  negation's  practice  strange, 

And  men  arise  whose  lives  have  naught  to  give. 

Earth's  leadership  comes  not  with  puny  skill 

Of  man  to  warp,  manipulate  at  will 

The  rights  of  fellow  man,  'tis  as  the  sun 

That  through  all  time  creatively  its  work  has  done. 


73 


tfjree 


Personal  Significance 

The  personality  of  manhood  lies 

In  showing  unto  others,  what  is  theirs; 
It  is  the  chord  once  struck,  brings  joys  or  sighs, 

To  some  'tis  wheat,  to  many  only  tares. 
O  Lincoln,  Lincoln,  tender,  brave,  and  true, 

Thy  love  does  make  more  beautiful,  sublime, 
Each  lowly  human  effort  to  subdue 

Life's  errors  and  the  habit  of  dread  crime. 
The  mystery  of  thy  sympathy  weaves  fast 

The  garment  covering  o'er  the  scars  of  sin ; 
While  to  the  world  thy  agency  looms  vast 

With  pregnant  sources  for  the  life  within. 

The  greater  life  of  vision  belts  the  globe, 
From  zenith  to  horizon  it  doth  probe. 


77 


Sfl&e  Qforcf)  of  permanence 

Thy  personality  doth  prompt  in  all 

Emotions  full  and  richer  for  thine  own; 
Thy  soul  of  goodness  bursts  prophetical, 

Upon  the  soul  life,  in  its  world  unknown: 
It  lifts  the  burdens  that  so  agonize, 

Bringing  to  bearer  message  of  relief; 
It  calls  upon  the  nations  to  arise, 

And  bear  the  burdens -still  the  heart  of  grief. 
Soon  will  there  come  unto  all  lands  just  peace, 

Soon  whisperings  of  the  dawn  of  brighter  days; 
Soon  joys  will  rise  for  thought  of  pain's  surcease, 

And  wars  will  lesser  vaunt  their  cruel  displays. 

The  gift  of  life  is  endless  power  to  mould 
Man's  spirit,  and  his  best  to  help  unfold. 


79 


$3oUier  of  Hobe 

And  how  he  loved,  who  bore  for  us  so  much 

Of  life's  deep  sorrow,  and  the  martyr's  crown! 
To  hearts  of  men  and  women  came  a  touch 

Of  human  kindness,  all  their  hate  to  drown. 
He  taught  us  much,  who  did  his  work  so  well 

That  we  have  grown  more  like  him,  e'en  shall  grow, 
As  through  succeeding  ages  weaves  the  spell 

Of  spirit  upon  spirit  here  below. 
The  character  of  Lincoln  rests  secure 

With  Washington's,  eternally  enshrined; 
Twin  forces  ever  seeking  to  allure 

To  walks  of  justice  -  with  fair  peace  entwined. 

The  North  and  South  now  strive  to  multiply 
The  bonds  of  union -with  love's  strongest  tie. 


81 


Lincoln  was  master  of  the  common  lore, 

And  easily  ascended  wisdom's  plane; 
Bore  in  himself  the  thought  to  first  restore 

The  Union  and  its  limits  to  maintain. 
Wisdom  again  shone  o'er  his  war  time  acts, 

And  prompted  to  a  sure  ingathering  trust 
That  Lincoln's  heart  and  brain  knew  best  the  facts, 

Knew  how  to  guide,  control,  and  be  most  just. 
Wisdom -that  higher  thinking  of  the  soul- 

Alone  gives  basis  for  the  soul's  delight; 
Wisdom -'tis  more  than  learning's  aureole - 

'Tis  common  knowledge  grafted  with  foresight. 

Who  clings  to  fundamentals -bears  the  cross, 
But  through  his  wisdom  sanctifies  all  loss. 


83 


fEordj  of 

No  gold  nor  earthly  gewgaws  dimmed  the  glance 

That  probed  behind  man's  lean  and  selfish  life; 
No  prize  of  power  transcendent,  turned  the  lance 

That  pricked  unerringly  the  ills  of  strife. 
Back  to  the  past,  then  up  the  steep  ascent 

Of  daily  life,  he  traced  his  weary  rise, 
Communing  with  the  God  omnipotent, 

And  earth  streamed  with  the  faith  of  sacrifice. 
The  soul  that  reaches  back  to  lowly  trails 

As  duty  flings  its  issues  on  the  brain, 
Unearths  a  mint  and  cummin  that  avails 

As  daily  altar  where  God's  fires  obtain. 

Unfolding  laws  sometimes  bind  earth  and  skies, 
And  man  finds  the  eternal,  ere  he  dies. 


85 


Thy  fortitude  in  shouldering  each  defeat, 

And  courage  when  adversity  bore  near, 
Showed  forth  a  nature  practical -concrete, 

Which  loses  naught  with  minglings  of  dread  fear. 
Thou  coped  with  every  ill  that  threatened  harm; 

Thou  warred  with  every  rumor  of  disgrace: 
Thy  being  rose  with  sternness  to  disarm 

Those  minions,  self-appointed,  treacherous,  base. 
The  times  vouchsafed  no  virtuous  clemency, 

Nor  wafted  to  thy  spirit  fragrant  hours, 
But  doomed  thy  life  with  dread  calamity, 

Testing  the  height  and  depth  of  human  powers. 

When  fortitude  seems  greatest,  there  is  love 
That  delves  the  deepest,  soars  to  heavens  above. 


87 


flflfje  ^fcTotce  of  belief 

Humor  is  active,  wisdom's  instrument, 

And  played  with  kind  insinuating  grace, 
Falls  as  the  dew,  not  as  the  rain's  torrent, 

Lifting  to  keen  delight -the  commonplace. 
It  turns  aside  the  stinging  darts  of  foes, 

Through  understanding  of  their  origin; 
It  brings  to  human  suffering  ease  of  woes, 

From  feeling  joy  as  sorrow's  nearest  kin. 
Thy  spirit's  humor -gift  of  God  to  thee- 

Brought  to  thy  life  an  agency  divine, 
That  more  and  more  in  full  and  high  degree, 

Served  usefully  thy  deeds  to  interline. 

Humor  enables  us  to  see  ahead, 

Though  fierce  the  breakers  o'er  the  way  we  tread. 


89 


t)ig{)er  Hibi 

Thy  patience,  all  enduring,  did  supplant 

The  weary  wastes  of  passion's  wild  despair, 
And  overturn  the  ill  advice  and  cant 

Flowing  relentlessly,  man's  will  to  snare. 
It  bore  thee  past  all  insults  grave, 

Springing  from  lips  through  ignorance  or  guile; 
It  carried  thy  kind  heart,  that  ills  forgave, 

To  sterner  deeds,  as  fallen  times  defile. 
Thy  patience,  like  the  flakes  of  falling  snow, 

Unconsciously  sifts  o'er  the  people's  heart, 
Adding  a  purity  that  does  bestow 

A  cleaner  footing  and  a  nobler  part. 

Thy  voice  to  us  does  speak- does  patience  urge, 
That  wisdom's  ways  may  common  ills  submerge. 


91 


Croton  of  Utfe 

The  alabaster  box  of  ointment  spreads 

Its  precious  contents  o'er  the  Master's  feet, 
While  Mary,  in  true  humbleness  that  sheds 

Its  rays  of  glory  o'er  all  time  complete, 
Dries  with  her  hair,  and  hears  the  Master's  tones 

'Blessing  the  giver  and  the  gift  of  love: 
So  Lincoln  bears  a  soul  that  ne'er  disdains 

The  way  of  service  for  his  God  above; 
All  ways  turned  upward  in  that  simple  rule 

Scaling  to  heights  no  monarch  ever  knew, 
Turning  the  shafts  of  sharpest  ridicule 

To  perfumed  laws  'neath  flails,  thought  to  subdue. 

The  truest  human  spirit  does  explore 
Unto  the  heart  of  man -its  boundless  lore. 


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Ration's 

The  tall  and  stately  pine-tree  rears  aloft 

Its  needle-pointed  vestments,  bears  its  sway, 
As  prophet  o'er  a  wilderness,  and  oft 

Tells  to  the  ear  attuned,  of  storms  that  play. 
So  rose  our  Lincoln  to  his  lonely  view 

Above  the  hill  tops  springing  from  the  plain; 
Then  saw  he  far  beyond,  and  through  and  through, 

As  earth-contact  thrilled  messages  of  pain. 
A  man,  our  very  own,  to  earth  so  near, 

So  simple  in  his  heartfelt  tenderness, 
Yet  with  a  vision,  piercing  heights,  a  seer, 

Tracing  the  storm  clouds  and  the  war's  duress. 

Seems  human  life  a  vain  and  worthless  thing 
Attuned  by  Lincoln  to  love's  deathless  spring! 


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